Power in Prayer — Corrie Ten Boom

Yesterday I felt a little bit... I've had a mood this morning, he sent a frog in my throat. But I'm not afraid because there are praying people here and Jesus is stronger than a frog. Yesterday there was...

I asked a brother here and said that this is for the first time that I come here. The people who come, what do they expect that they come for? And he said, no, many will come to meet you. And I said, then you must pray that they may forget the channel, seeing only the Lord.

The Riches of Prayer and the Need for Intercession

And I'm going to ask you to pray in the time that I speak, that even when I tell of all my experiences, that I, Corrie ten Boom, will be hidden behind the cross, you will see Jesus. And I know that when you pray, that the devil has not much chance.

I'm so glad that I will speak here seven times. And I will speak today only about one thing, and that's about prayer. And every time I will show a little bit different from the tremendous riches that we have in Jesus Christ.

We have boundless resources. And we need the Holy Spirit to understand how rich we are. And if there are really people here who like to go deeper, then try to come more than once. Perhaps if it is possible to all meetings, then I will share with you what the Lord has taught me.

In a very difficult class of life school, and also in a very happy class of life school. This class where I know is very happy. I admire this morning sunshine and grapefruit around me. What a joy. But that's not why I'm so happy here.

I am here in the midst of praying people. And it is such a joy when you are more or less standing on the front line, when you know that there are praying people. This morning Ellen prayed especially for the missionaries who have not a group of people around them who pray for them.

And there are people who have sent them out and who pray for them the first month, and then they forget the missionaries. And they stand there alone. And I hope that when I speak about prayer, that you will see that you might be more faithful in your prayer for the missionaries, and for other people.

The weary ones had rest. The sick had joy that day and wondered how. The plowman, singing at his field, had prayed, God, help them now. Alone in foreign fields, they wondered how their feeble words had power.

At home, the Christians, two or three perhaps, or more, had met to pray an hour. So we are often wondering how, because we do not see someone unknown perhaps and far away on bended knee. The Lord said in 2 Timothy 2 .1, I read it from the translation of Philips, First supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings should be made on behalf of all men, for kings and rulers in positions of responsibility, so that our common life may be lived in peace and quiet, with a proper sense of God and of our responsibility to Him for what we do with our lives.

Do you pray faithfully for your president? And you Dutch friends here, do you pray faithfully for our Queen? Do we really stand praying behind all the people who are now in the government and have such a terrific responsibility?

Well, you Americans know that America has not only the responsibility for this country, but really for a big part of the world. They need your prayers. Do you pray for China? Do you realize that perhaps 60 or 70 of the body of Christ is suffering terrific persecution?

Behind the iron and the bamboo curtain, there is a persecution worse than in the time of Nero. Don't you know it? Do you not realize it? Then try to find out. Watchman Lee said, When my feet were whipped, my hands suffered pain.

We are one body of Christ, these people in China and in Russia. So we may not be indifferent and just say, Oh, thank the Lord that I am living in a free country. Amen. No. You may thank Him for that and use these opportunities, but don't say the Amen already after that one sentence.

But go on. It is so good that the Lord told us when we pray not to look unto our faith. Last night I had a talk with someone and she said, Oh, my faith is so small and weak. I said, That doesn't matter.

Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Faith

Don't look unto your faith. In Hebrew 12 it's written, Let us look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. I had a jewelry store before the war. And sometimes I had in my store new watches that did not run exactly.

I never repaired them, but I sent them back to the manufacturer and wrote him a letter, These new watches do not run well. After he had repaired them, they went absolutely exact. When my faith doesn't work, I don't try to repair it, but I send it back to the manufacturer, Jesus, the author, the finisher, the manufacturer of my faith.

And when Jesus repairs my faith, then it works. And even a hero of faith, Hudson Taylor, has said, Not a great faith we need, but a faith in a great God. And even Jesus said, If it is as small as a mustard seed, it is sufficient to remove mountains.

I am so glad that I have learned praying already when I was a little child. When I was five years old, I asked the Lord Jesus to come into my heart, and He came, and He never left me. Mothers, did you bring your five-year-old to the Lord?

Don't think they are too young. Last week, I spoke, I said the same to a group of people, and I said, Speak with your little ones about the joy of Jesus, and He may come into their hearts. And the next evening, after the meeting, there came two little ones, one, I believe, was six, and one was eight.

And he said, Have you to ask me something? Yes, we both like to ask Jesus to come into our hearts. And the little boy said, Last night, Mother has prayed with me and talked with me. It was very easy to bring these people to the Lord.

Oh, what was the joy? I know the angels rejoice. The angels always rejoice when someone comes to the Lord Jesus. But I believe they rejoice more still when these little ones come. My mother told me that I had immediately a burden for souls after Jesus had come into my heart.

Praying for the Smedestraat

And she said, Every prayer of yours ended with these words, And Lord Jesus, will you save all the people in the Smedestraat? The Smedestraat was a street behind our house where were many liquor stores, and you saw always drunken people there.

And now I thought, Let's do something. So I did something. And I prayed. And when I think of it, then I smile. A five-year-old who prays for a whole street. I'll tell you something. Last year, I came in Holland just a week before Easter.

Prayer Opens Doors for the Gospel

And there came a gentleman to me and said, May I introduce you for the TV? I said, All right. I was very gracious. I did not realize that God was going to do a great miracle. I came in a theater, and I had never seen such a business.

And this was an interview from a man who interviews all kinds of people. This is not a Christian TV. And there I had to listen an interview with the oldest taxi driver in Holland. And then I had to admire the biggest rabbit of Holland and the long ears he had.

And then the smallest rabbit. And that went on and on and on. And after two hours, at last I could come. And I was tired from all the sitting in that terrible light. We had beforehand had instruction.

There was a gentleman who said, Now, when I come so, you must applaud. And you must applaud very loud. And when I come so, you must laugh. And you must laugh very loud. So we knew what to do. Now, this man asked me about my life, why I was traveling over the world.

Boy, that was a chance. And I had asked some of my friends to pray. And I knew that some friends were praying the whole evening. And the Lord gave me a strong message. At last he said, I can't understand when you tell that you have had difficulties and problems and suffering and that you look so happy.

I said, Now, have I not a reason to be happy? I have a message for the whole world. For God has so loved the whole world that he has sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but has everlasting life.

Isn't that something of great joy? That I have a message for the whole world and for whosoever? Then he said, Now, it is now Easter. So I would like to hear what you think about Easter. Is that something to be happy about?

I said, Sure. Easter will say that Jesus not only died at the cross for the sins of the whole world but that he lives, that he rose again and that he is with us always. Easter is one of the most joyful feasts that you can imagine.

When I came home after this, or it was not really when I came home because it was taken on videotape two days before. So I had a joy to at home to see the program. It's always a thrill to see yourself on the TV.

And I was happy to see that, to hear that the Lord had really given a strong message. As a matter of fact, when I came back from that interview, Ellen and I both, we were disappointed. We said, Oh, I haven't said this.

I have not mentioned that. And the enemy really was busy to discourage us. But when I listened and I heard what the Lord had given me for a message, I understood that the prayer was answered that my friends had prayed that evening.

They had prayed, God, make that Corrie only says what is your will and that she does not say one word what is not your will. And that's why that happened, a miracle. That same evening, I was after that, called over the telephone till midnight.

Say, I saw you on the TV. Is that true? That Jesus is a light? That who comes to him does not remain in darkness? I am in darkness. Is that really right? I said, Yes, sir, I have experienced it. And what's your address?

And he gave me his address. And the next day I sent a friend of mine, a brother to go and visit him. The next day I got piles of letters. Weeks and weeks the telephone stood red hot. Can you say that?

Long-Delayed Answers to Persistent Prayer

But now what I'm going to tell you is one letter from a lady who wrote me. Corrie, my husband was so interested that you told that you had lived in Haarlem. He himself has lived 17 years in the Smedestraat.

He knows a little bit about the Lord Jesus and he thought it was very interesting to hear of him. I said, Thank you, Lord. An answer on a prayer of 75 years ago. Oh, come along, a kid of five years who is praying for a whole street.

No. The Lord listened. He gave an answer. He worked. I don't know. But he just showed me one of the people of the Smedestraat whom he had touched. I was always in Christian schools. But when I was 15, I had to go to a home economic school and that was not a Christian school.

I told the girls who were sitting beside me and the teachers that they needed Jesus. They were not at all happy about my sermons. I came home and said, Mom, these people will not receive Jesus as their Savior.

And Mom said, You must learn what is life. And life is not like a Christian school. But go, let us pray for them. And then we really prayed very much for my fellow students in that school and for the teachers.

Now I got a letter. Corrie, I saw you for the TV. I was so interested. You know, 65 years ago we were together in the home economic school. And I was so interested to hear and to see you. And what you told about Jesus was very interesting, but I don't know much of him.

The next day I came to visit her and I could explain her the whole way of salvation. An answer on a prayer of 65 years ago. There was a man with whom I have talked and I have wrestled for his soul. But the last time that I saw him in Canada, I said, No, I will not serve God.

I will just go my own way. Now he phoned me. And he is now in Holland. He is a Dutchman. And he phoned Tante, that means auntie, Tante Corrie. I saw you last night for the TV. Do you realize that you said exactly the same what you said to me 40 years ago when we met in Canada?

And then I said, No. But when I heard you this time, I believe that I am longing to say yes. What must I do? And he said, Come immediately. And he came. And then wrote me 25 years ago, I came in your house that you had opened for ex-prisoners.

And I was happy there, but you told me to receive the Lord Jesus as my savior. But I was not ready for that. Now I saw you on the TV. And I thought you will be very interested and happy that I can write you, I found the Lord Jesus two weeks ago in a meeting with a brother so-and-so.

Now you understand how we have prayed for these people in that home for ex-prisoners after the war. The interesting thing was that suddenly all kinds of churches were open for me after they had seen that TV program.

So I spoke in Catholic churches, in all kinds of churches where I never had been before. Once, after a meeting, there came an old gentleman with a long beard. And he said, You know, I was so interested to come to you.

When I was six years old, I was in a school and my teacher was a mist and womb. Was that you? I said, No. That was my sister, Nolly. Ah, do tell me, is she still alive? I said, No. And I told about Nolly and about her children.

And he was very interested to hear about the teacher that he had known so long ago. But I said, Oh, I'm very happy to tell you about her and about her family. But I am still more interested. What do you do with the message that you have heard tonight?

He said, What do you mean? I said, No, I mean that I have spoken about the necessity of the rebirth, that we have to be born again, that we have to receive Jesus as our Savior as a real decision. Did you ever do that?

He said, I'm a very good Christian. I go every week to the church. I said, That's good. But a mouse born in a biscuit tin is therefore not yet a biscuit. To be in this building does not make you a Christian.

Oh, I said, But I am from a very good family. My father and mother were very fine children of God. I said, But God has no grandchildren. And that man accepted the Lord. Now, do you see the miracle? More than 70 years ago, Nollie every day came from school and told what she had experienced with the little ones in school.

And then always her talk ended that we all folded our hands and prayed for her pupils. Did we do that in great faith? No. I don't remember my faith in that time. But what a joy to experience after 70 years an answer on these prayers.

Now, why do I tell you this? Because I will encourage you to go on praying for that son, for that husband, for that wife of yours, for that mother of yours, for that neighbor. I am sure that almost everyone here will have people for whom he or she is praying.

And you will have experienced the same as I have experienced that the devil sometimes says to you, Now stop it. You have now done it so long and now you experience the Lord is not going to answer your prayers.

But he is a liar. God's meals go slowly but they go very secure. And what I have experienced of an answer after 75 years and 60 and 40 and 25 years that is for me evidence that not one of our prayers is lost.

And I even read in the book of Revelations that all the prayers of the saints are kept. And you, when you belong to Jesus, you are saved. We are what we are in Jesus Christ, one set apart for his service.

God's Power in Human Weakness

Go on with praying. And I think that when we come in heaven, one of the joys will be of what I have now experienced a very little bit, the answers for our prayers of our whole life. And then we will be amazed that the Lord has done not after our small faith but after his great power.

And go on with praying. I know that there will be here in this building a great blessing this week. Why? Because I feel able? No. I have seldom felt myself so unable. But when our inability meets God's ability, then miracles happen.

And I know that there come great blessings even this morning because of your prayers. You have not been praying, many of you, only today but also yesterday and weeks before. And Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.

The host of hell can that one rout who meets him with a praiseful shout. And that happens much in this room here. When I was in a concentration camp, I learned what it means to pray. I learned to cast my burden on the Lord.

Casting Every Burden on the Lord

I will never forget that once my heart felt so terrible heavy. Do you experience that sometimes? That your heart is so heavy of all the sorrows and the worries that you carry, that you can hardly breathe.

In the concentration camp in Germany where I was together with Betsy, my sister, because my family, my friends, and I had saved Jewish people and the Gestapo had brought us, therefore, into that camp.

My heart was often very heavy, not only for our own suffering but what we saw around us. And one morning we saw a very big group, about seven, eight hundred newcomers. Oh, what a terrible suffering was awaiting these people.

My heart felt so heavy. I had a little Bible hidden under my dress. And I opened it and I read Ephesians, no, Philippians 4, 6. Don't worry over anything whatever. Tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer.

And the peace of God which transcends human understanding will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Jesus Christ. You know, my heart felt like this handbag. It was heavy. And now I started to obey.

And I did it. I started to tell God every detail of my needs in earnest and thankful prayer. And I said, Lord, here I bring you these newcomers. Oh, Lord, what a terrible suffering is awaiting them. Lord, I cannot do anything for them but you can come for them.

Oh, lay your hand on their lives. Here they are, Lord. And then I brought Betsy, my sister, who was far too weak to be a prisoner. I said, Lord, let liberation come soon. Betsy is so weak and he is so thin.

Oh, Lord, keep Betsy very close to your heart. I thank you that she has such a peace. But, oh, Lord, liberate her soon. Here is Betsy, Lord. And then I brought my friends in Holland and my queen in England who had to suffer so much through the oppression of the enemy.

I said, Lord, I can only pray for them. Oh, Lord, let soon the end come of this terrible war. And, Lord, I bring you all these people in Holland and England. And then I brought my hatred. That morning, there had come such a hatred in my heart because of the cruelties I had experienced.

And I said, Oh, Lord, forgive me my hatred. Forgive me, Father, in Jesus' name. And I knew there happens what always happens when you bring a sin to God in Jesus' name. He cleansed my heart. And I am sure when you are emptying your heavy heart from all the burdens that it will be very often that there is a sin that you must bring to the Lord.

But what a joy to bring that sin to the Lord and leave it with Him. So I went on and on. I brought all the burdens of my heart to the Lord. And I went so long going on with praying that at last my heart was empty of worries, just as empty as this bag.

And then I said, Amen. That was good. That was praying. That was casting your burdens on the Lord. That was very good that I did it. But what I did after that was not good. Everything that I had brought to the Lord, I took and brought back into my heart.

And I can tell you my heart was heavier after my prayer than before. But that's not praying. Prayer means to bring all the burdens to the Lord and leave it there. And it is the Holy Spirit who teaches us how to pray.

And so to pray that we can go through life with an empty heart, empty of sorrows, but full of the joy of the Lord, even in a very difficult time. And I saw it in Betsy. One day it was a day that was also terrible.

There was no salt in the terrible soup that they gave us, the only meal. Oh, you say, is that so terrible? Yes, when you are starving. It is terrible. You need salt. Some of the people in the barrack had been fighting.

They were all propped together with 700 in a room that was built for 200. And then when they were fighting, Betsy said, let's pray. And she prayed. And she said, Oh, Lord, send away this spirit of fighting.

These people are so irritated, Lord. They are so weak. Oh, they suffer so much. And she went on praying. And it was as if there was a storm that was laid down. It was absolutely quiet until at last Betsy said, Thank you, Lord.

And there was peace. That day, one of the fellow prisoners in that room was beaten till she died. It was a terrible day. But Betsy and I were sitting on that dirty cot, and Betsy was always talking about the Lord.

And I talked with her. And it was as if the Lord had put a fence around her. Not that she was back into a self-centered being alone with the Lord. For always when she could give help, she did. Even if it was in the midst of the night, she could go to a Polish woman that was crying and could not sleep.

And that Polish woman, she could not reach with her language, for she didn't understand Dutch, and Betsy didn't understand Polish. But she laid her hand on the head of that woman and prayed. And said, Oh, Lord, what a joy that you understand me.

And she prayed with that woman till that woman fell asleep peacefully. That evening Betsy said to me, Hey Corrie, haven't we had a very joyful day? And I looked at her. A joyful day in the midst of so much cruelty.

But it was a joyful day. When the worst happens in the life of a child of God, the best remains. And that is what we must understand. And so we can be happy also in difficult times. I found that there is nothing too small for God's love.

And nothing too great for God's power. I once was in great danger. I stood in the custom office of Moscow. I had in my suitcase many Bibles, Russian Bibles. And also other literature, Christian literature.

Trusting God's Promises in Prayer

It was the first time that I came in Russia. I saw how the custom officer ransacked every suitcase. And I got scared. I thought, Oh, when he sees my Bibles and my literature, what will he do? Send me to prison?

Send me back to Holland? Of course he will take the Bibles. Now I like to pray with an open Bible. I like to pray and say to the Lord, Father, you have said it in your word. Now you must do it. And God likes it.

God likes it when we do that. For God has meant every promise of the Bible. He means business with his promises. And he likes it when you and I mean business with his promises. And when we expect that he does what he promised.

I said, Lord, you have said in Jeremiah 1, God watches over his word to perform it. Lord, these Bibles in my suitcase are your word. So with my hand on Jeremiah 1, I pray, Lord, will you watch over your word, my Bibles in the suitcase, to smuggle them.

Oh, I know that was not what Jeremiah said. But when we pray with an open Bible and tell God his promises, God does not first ask if we have a good exegesis. No. And that moment, I saw for the first and only time of my life, angels.

They were standing around my suitcase, like beings. Now, I have had the help of angels so often, but I have never seen them. Don't ask me how they looked, because when I looked at them, they disappeared.

They did not disappear, I know, but I couldn't see them any longer. But also my fear had disappeared. And at last, the customs officer came to my suitcase. Is that your suitcase? Yes, sir. That's a heavy one.

Yes, sir. Oh, wait, lady. I am soon with my work. I will bring it to your car. And he brought it to the car of the in-tourist, who was waiting. And I had almost shouted hallelujah, but I didn't do that.

Prayer Warriors on the Front Line

Oh, my friends, I will speak more this week about the tremendous power that is with us. You and I are standing on the front line of the terrible battle that is now in this world. I believe that the Lord is training us for the great end battle, where you and I will stand still more on the front line.

And I know that we are called to be prayer warriors. There is much written in the Bible how we must pray. One of the things is that we may pray in the name of Jesus. So often people forget that, and it is so important.

William Magenda once told me that he came back from a long trip. His little boy, Timothy, three years old, was at the station. He said, Daddy, I will carry your suitcase. But he was only three years old, and the suitcase was very heavy.

And he said, All right, boy, you may help me, but lay your hand on my hand. And the little boy laid his little, weak hand on the strong hand of William. And so they came home. When they came home, the little boy said, Mom, I have carried Daddy's suitcase.

William asked his wife, say, How has he behaved in the time? She said, Did you get his letter? Yes, he said. And then she told how it had happened. She was writing a letter to William. And little Timothy said, Mom, what are you doing?

She said, I am writing Daddy a letter. I will also write Daddy a letter. Oh, she said, That's good. And she gave him a paper and a pen. And he started to write a letter to his Daddy. When he had finished it, he gave it to his mom.

And the mother wrote, This is Christopher's letter to his Daddy. When William got that letter, he thought, Oh, there is a mistake that came in the letter of my wife. And he would throw it into the wastebasket.

But suddenly he read what was written, This is Christopher's letter to his Daddy. And suddenly he became very happy. His son had written him a letter. He said to his friend, Have you a boy of three years old?

Yes. He said, I too. Did he ever write you a letter? No, of course not. My son has written me a letter. My, how proud, how happy he was. Say, when you pray, it may be beautiful. In the beautiful language of the Book of Common Prayer.

It may be a cry, a sigh. It may be just telling all your worries. It can be in whatever language it will be said. It can be a beautiful prayer. But it is never good and beautiful enough for a holy God.

But when you say in Jesus' name, then suddenly God is happy with your prayer. For Jesus says, Father, this is a prayer, a letter from John, from Mary, from Isabel. And suddenly God is so happy with that prayer.

Only through the name of Jesus. So don't forget. Don't say, Lord, now I finish this prayer in your name. No. Say the name of Jesus. There is power in the name of Jesus. Jesus heard when you prayed last night.

He talked with God about you. Jesus was there when you fought your fight. He is gone to bring you through. Jesus knew when you shed those tears so you did not weep alone. For the burden you thought too heavy to bear, he made his very own.

Jesus himself was touched by that trial which you could not understand. Jesus stood by as you almost fell and lovingly grasped your hand. Jesus cared when you bore that pain. Indeed, he bore it too. He felt each pain, each ache in your heart because of his love for you.

Jesus was grieved when you doubted his love. But he gave you grace to go on. Jesus rejoiced as you trusted him, the only trustworthy one. His presence shall ever be with you. No need to be anxious or fret, wonderful Lord.

He was there all the time. He has never forsaken you yet. Thank you, Lord. That is more true than we can realize. Forgive us our doubt. Teach us to pray, Holy Spirit. Thank you that your commandments are so seriously meant.

Even the commandment, don't worry about anything, thing, whatever. Hallelujah. Amen.